


Hot Zone

by SmollestHunter



Category: Original Work
Genre: Blood, Body Changes, Corpses, Crash Landings, Domestic Fluff, Fear, Fluff, How many times can i bring Douglas up per chapter, I wasn't kidding when i said it was gonna get weird, Infection, Lets start placing bets, Like, M/M, Monsters, Multi, Original infectious diseases, Other, Paranoia, Parasites, Sickness, Size Difference, Some mild smut in the beginning, This is only the beginning of it getting gross., Timur is very gay for Douglas, Violence, Wounds, adding tags as I go, and gross, damn boy thats more of an allusion, does this count as harassment, experiencing periods for the first time, i mean mild, kinda fucked up but go off, this is just my excuse to be gross, unusual contagion vectors, when i say size difference i mean it.
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-16
Packaged: 2019-06-01 05:19:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15135986
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SmollestHunter/pseuds/SmollestHunter
Summary: >>"Mayday. Mayday, mayday, mayday I'm going down!" Timur ignored the sudden flare of intense panic in his veins, trying to block out the sound of Douglas yelling into his comms as he struggled with the harness he wore before looking up. The sudden sight of the treetops coming up towards him had the pilot throwing his hands up to his face. The control board in front of him was rising to meet him as he was jerked forwards and everything went black with a crunch.<<__________________________________________________When the pilot Timur crashes into a hotzone while searching for a new spot for colonization, his thoughts are on avoiding the infected first and foremost. What he last expected was his own inevitable infection, and the interactions resulting from it.__________________________________________________This work is crossposted to my Fictionpress account: https://www.fictionpress.com/u/1045381/Smollest-Hunter





	1. Crash Landing

**Author's Note:**

> Hello, Jager here! This is gonna be my first multi-chapter fic on here and I'm GIVING FAIR WARNING NOW cause this story is gonna get gross. It's basically gonna be for the most part something rather naughty and at times kind of nightmarish in general. So read at your own risk.
> 
> Warnings: Mild smut in the start, mentions of gore, injury, infectious disease and also crash landing into an infected hell

Maybe he shouldn't have let himself be cajoled into going out and getting together with another member of the patrols in the dome. In his defense, the person who'd came onto him was undoubtedly a very nice, very good looking man by the name of Douglas and hell, Timur liked him as a friend and co-worker. So when they'd stumbled out of the party and down the street to his apartment cause Timur's was closer came as a surprise, especially the slurred praise of his ass looking fantastic in his work uniform and how nice the feeling of Douglas's calloused fingers raking over his short hair felt. He certainly hadn't expected it to get past them drunkenly passing out, but it had ended up with him naked on top of the other, panting like he'd run a mile while Douglas kept a death grip on his hips, bucking up into him and keening out Timur's name. If that hadn't been an ego boost he wasn't exactly sure what was besides seeing Douglas's fair hair fanned out and his skin all marked up but that was something else in itself.

Seeing the other in the morning had been a surprise he'd not expected. Of course Timur had to admit that he was rather glad someone was there to grab him food and medicine first thing, that was something he never really got the few times he did this sort of thing. It was pretty nice, and afterwards he and Douglas just kind of decided that staying friends with occasional benefits would suit them better so it worked out best for Timur cause hell, he wasn't sure he could work with a relationship and someone living with him. Lucky for him, it seemed his friend thought the same way. And so they went on with what they did, going day in and day out on patrols and securing sites that weren't a sure-fire way to die via infection for new colonization. Timur was content with being the eye in the sky for the dome, going out and using cameras to report back the visual feed.

It was just a routine that he was doing now, talking with Douglas as the man made commentary on the land below him, the pilot rolling his eyes good humoredly, "It isn't as bad as you make it out to be."

"Timur, dude, my guy my friend-lover-thing. It's pretty bad," Came the exasperated voice, the pilot laughing at him as he adjusted his altitude.

"Come now, it's not so bad. I think it's rather beautiful in a sad type of way, the plants here certainly enjoy taking back the land."

"You and plants, what is that. Are you a phytophiliac? Also, adjust course thirty degrees north."

"Adjusting course. And no, I don't think that's even a thing." They kept up the banter, Timur shaking his head as he adjusted his course as necessary to show off the landscape. He had just gotten done laughing at something that Douglas had said, the man blowing a raspberry as he shot down his very obvious come on to him about fucking in the chopper when he got back. Something fast, and very very shiny below him.

Going for a rise in altitude, Timur ground his teeth, "We have a problem. Hostiles are under me, I think they're electros. I'm going to try and raise altitude to get out of their range."

"Shit, electros? Get back to the dome, holy shit Tim!" He ground his teeth as he turned, heading to go back to the dome as quickly as possible. He flipped a couple of switches, his fist tightening on the steering stick. The sound of alarms blaring had his shooting up and he jerked forwards as a large bang sounded from behind him and little arcs of electricity jumped up from the controls in front of him.

"Mayday. Mayday, mayday, mayday I'm going down!" Timur ignored the sudden flare of intense panic in his veins, trying to block out the sound of Douglas yelling into his comms as he struggled with the harness he wore before looking up. The sudden sight of the treetops coming up towards him had the pilot throwing his hands up to his face. The control board in front of him was rising to meet him as he was jerked forwards and everything went black with a crunch.

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

There was static in his head as Timur woke up, groggily looking up and to the sides of the cabin of his chopper. Groaning, the man placed a hand on his forehead, hissing as he pulled his hand away and narrowed unfocused eyes at his shadowed hand. There was something dark on his forehead and his brain briefly went 'Oh, blood'. The groan of metal around him had him looking up, noting that the windshield was broken open (definitely from careening into the canopy) and through it he could see the bent and twisted propellers turning slowly above him. One looked like it had been completely ripped off and the brunette groaned, hanging his head forwards as it throbbed painfully. His hands numbly tried to undo his harness, slipping and failing horribly the first few times before finally getting it off. Catching himself on the control board and forcing himself up on shaky limbs, Timur grunted as his gloves were pierced through by glass shards as he moved to open the door to the cabin, struggling with it a moment before tossing it open and heaving himself out with a moan of as pain raced down his legs from his hips. Limply falling to the ground, Timur coughed as he rolled over to his back and stared up through the hole he'd made in the canopy during his crash.

It was nighttime, so he'd been out for awhile and he groaned as he rubbed at his eyes tiredly before resting his palms on his forehead above his eyebrows. Wiggling his jeans down a bit, the pilot groaned at the sight of thick bruises from where his harness had dug into the skin, most likely during the momentum from him careening forwards and smacking his head off the console. His harness did it's job at least the brunette decided, rubbing at his face and pushing himself to his feet and stumbling a bit. Looking around proved one thing; Timur couldn't see a damn thing past his man-made clearing, but he sure as hell didn't feel like sitting there waiting for death like an idiot. The sound of his crash alone was probably enough to draw to the infected towards him. Swallowing, the downed pilot stumbled towards the tree line, heading in what he hoped was a direction that would take him towards heavy coverage or at least an area that had at some point been an attempted colony with still standing houses.


	2. New Kind of Hell

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Jager here! Chapter two is going to be decidedly disgusting. I just love me some sickening diseases.
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of gore, injury, infectious disease, infection via unusual vectors, painful infection transformations, graphic descriptions of being sick

Stumbling around in the dark hadn't really been as good an idea as he'd thought; Timur wanted nothing more than to hobble his sorry ass back to his chopper but at this point he was considering just finding a ditch to hide in until daylight with how much he'd been turned around in little circles. It was honestly just a pain in his ass at this point, he was decently sure he'd twisted his ankle when he'd tripped over a root that was up pretty damn high and couldn't find again almost like it had moved when he realized what had happened. That had prompted him to try and tie it in a horrible attempt of a splint and keep going because if it had moved, he sure as hell wasn't getting caught by whatever it could have been. The feeling of being watched was unshakeable and Timur had to bite back the fear making him tense as he kept moving. The forest was dense, black leaves occasionally getting lit up by veins of moonlight leaking in through little holes or the rustling of the branches when a gust of wind would come through the branches. The chill from the wind didn't help that he felt cold and the now crusty itch of blood on his forehead was driving him slowly insane over not wanting to rip it open again.

It had to be about early dawn when the brunette had finally stumbled out of the woods, tripping over an overgrown brick wall as he clambered out and into the overgrowth surrounding what looked like a partially flooded settlement. There were collapsed and moldy houses closer to the water, vines drooping down heavily from the boughs of darkened trees, the sluggishly moving waters reflecting the dim morning light and Timur swallowed as he shakily pushed himself up with his hands squelching and slipping in the cold muck. Dragging his aching body through it slowly, he looked around at the houses, heading towards one of the little white and blue dome-like structures that wasn't completely burst open by falling trees and with a mostly intact door. Trying the knob yielded no opening, and Timur looked around cautiously, swallowing briefly as he scanned the area for any apparent threats before ramming his shoulder into it. And again. And again. And once more until it finally broke open with a sickening crunch. A stench wafted out, horrible and putrid, like something had been left out to rot for far too long and Timur gagged, tears built up in his eyes and he had to turn away and place a hand on his mouth to keep from dry heaving. Swallowing around the build up of saliva, he slowly slunk into the entryway, hands holding onto the wall in a way for stability and maybe a light switch.

The inside of the house was just a foul smelling as when he'd opened it. It seemed to get worse the further in he went, ankle throbbing horrendously at every dragged step. Timur briefly thought of the supposed root he tripped over and his mind wandered back to Douglas; There wasn't a doubt in his mind that the blond man was going to be trying his damnedest to launch a full scale retrieval that would inevitably get shot down unless he had enough people backing him up. As much as Timur knew he was social and fairly friendly, he couldn't see people sharing Douglas's desperation to get him back. They might mourn losing a good pilot but they would probably see it as a risk he had known could of happened. And Timur had known. And now he was living with the fact that his skills hadn't saved him from crash landing into this hell. Stumbling in further away from the wall and away from the open door that was providing the only source of rising light proved that it was unusually dark in the home. The hair on the back of his neck was standing up, goosebumps running down his arms and legs at the though of why there would be no light there. There were a kind of infected that teams had reported seeing running around at the edges of the lights of the dome at night, something that was like a spider in composition and it was fast. It wove black webs, thick strings that could hold something as large as a fully turned charger stock still in its sticky grasp. These were all set up close to how the homes in the Dome were, and Timur headed in using what he hoped was the memorized floorplan of his own home as he did.

Trying to find a window proved to be a bit difficult, the man reaching out and touching the curved walls once he got close enough and tracing his hand upwards from it. He stopped with a twitch in his fingers as he touched something squishy and... pulsing? Curling a finger into the edge proved to make the squishy, fleshy pulsing thing lose it's grip on the metal of the wall and stick to his finger much to his chagrin and sudden panic when the light flooding in from the now opened corner of the window showed that it was crawling up his bare hand. Cursing loudly to himself, Timur flailed his arm in panic, tearing more of the gooey black mass off the window as he stumbled back, twisting his throbbing ankle with the sudden motions. Falling and hearing the crack of his ankle was enough to make him scream, the added fact that he had the goo on his arm and his other hand had fallen into something that was wet and released even more of a foul smell into the air not helping his current attempt at stopping hyperventilation before it started. Twisting around to try and stand prompted his black coated hand to squelch into whatever his hand was in and he felt whatever it was landing in splash up onto his face and he froze, body rigid and tense.

The new light had revealed the one thing he was hoping not to encounter; A dead body, coiled up with black legs in a death curl and some kind of fur around certain places sticking out of it. The body was mostly decomposed but his hands had gone through its bloated belly, spattering whatever was liquid in there up his arms and soaking into the sleeves of his mucky hoodie and onto his tactical vest. Tugging his hands out and sprawling proved to let the black goo stay inside the body as he stumbled back onto his ass and Timur's dark grey and blue eyes were wide, horrified at the sight of the corpse, watching maggots squirm from the opening he'd made by accident and he balked at the combined sight and smell. The black goop was starting to spread over them, climbing out and coating the maggots and corpse as it bubbled up from the holes. Forcing himself up onto his feet, Timur let out a strangled cry as he collapsed again as he put weight on his ankle, settling for dragging himself out on three limbs. The voices in his head yelled at him to move, get out and he did. The pilot managed to drag himself out the door, wiping at his lower face in fear of having gotten some of the gore on his face and only succeeding in spreading it around his mouth. The slimy feeling was what prompted him onto his elbows as he finally threw up, bile and whatever he'd managed to eat before leaving finally coming up as tears stung at his eyes and everything burned at his nose.

Looking up finally, he stared at the water a small distance away, swallowing his spit down and retching at the taste of blood on his tongue as he stumbled over to it in a weak crawl. Timur practically dunked himself in the slowly moving water, scrubbing off the gore on his arms as best he could before using it to roughly scrub at his face, hiccupping and forcing down the need to throw up again as he spat until his mouth felt dry and his throat burned from the force of him trying to dreg up more saliva. Sitting back in the muck, he looked around tiredly, discombobulated thoughts spiraling in his head as he looked around and landed on his twisted ankle. Tugging off his wet shoes and socks and placing them together Timur gingerly grabbed his ankle, keening weakly as his body protested the movements. His ankle was swollen, foot limp and pretty much unresponsive as he tried to feel the bone through the dark purple and red skin there. He'd definitely fucked it up pretty badly apparently because gripping the bones had him biting his lip as he not to scream, the muffled noise turning into pained whimpers and sobs as Timur let go. Yup, it was broken, there was no arguing that. Tugging his sock back on gingerly through blurred vision was difficult, him trying not to jostle the abused flesh and muscle. His shoe went on easier, even if he had to tie it sideways.

Forcing himself up again prompted another pained sob, having to move through the muck to another house in the hopes that it wouldn't be just a horrifying as the last one. This time, he studied the windows before dragging himself into a house with only half a door left, the windows clear of the black goop from the other house and the weak morning light pouring in making it easy to see the inside of the musty smelling home. Hopping on muddy feet was slow going, the effort on his already drained energy not helping him in the slightest, but he was thankful for the fact that the hair on his body wasn't sticking up in every physical direction. The wall to the bedroom in this house had been knocked out so all Timur had to do was hobble through the carpeted living room to get to the attached bathroom. That in itself was a challenge as he was tripping over his own feet and everything else in the vicinity.

Timur had ended up dragging himself into the room once he was close enough, laying on the warped wood floors and shaking from the exertion before pushing himself back up and pushing open the ajar door. The skylight in the bathroom was a nice source of light and the pilot used it to get a good grip on the counter, hauling himself up onto his good leg and starting to rummage through the mostly barren medical cabinet. He continued his ransacking with shaking hands, his vision crossing and almost blacking out a few times before he managed to drag out some bandages and pins. Grabbing at his foot he uncovered it again and stuck the roll of bandages between his teeth as grabbed near the middle of his foot, lithe fingers of his left hand curling tightly around it while he set his right hand against the skin just above the swollen area and he bit down, huffing through his nose as he mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do on the count of three.

There was a sickening crack resounding from it as he twisted the bone back into place and he saw pops of white behind his eyelids as he did so, the cotton bandages muffling what would have been an exceedingly loud scream thankfully. Timur rocked himself back and forth, hands gripping the skin tight enough that he was probably going to leave marks. Once the white hot blur of pain had died down slightly, he wrapped his ankle tightly with shaking hands and pinned it, letting his leg stretch out in front of him as Timur leaned his head back against the edge of the bathtub behind him. Staring up at the frosted glass of the skylight, the pilot let tears finally drip out of the corners of his eyes as the realization that he was probably going to die out here hit him like a brick to the head. Here he was, no weapon, no water, no food, a broken ankle in a house that was partially destroyed and surrounded by literal monsters. God only knows if he'll end up picking up an infection from the corpse form the other house and he honestly hoped that if it came to that that he would run into some of the patrols so he could beg them to put him out of his misery.

He had no idea how long he sat in that dingy, grimy bathroom but Timur did know that his mind wandered back to his friends, back to Douglas, who would rib him and laugh whenever he deadpanned a shitty joke that made no sense to anyone else but them. He thought of the man's fair, wavy mane and those stupid blue eyes that glinted so brightly whenever he heard something that he considered good gossip that he absolutely had to share. Would Douglas miss him if Timur died out here? He could vaguely recall the panicked tone in which the other had been trying to talk to him when he crash landed so he probably would. It'd barely been a day since he'd left but Timur missed him. He missed his friend terribly and maybe he'd get lucky and they would find him. He'd get stuck in quarantine and maybe they'd say he was just extra resilient and not infected and he'd be released after a month of being prodded at by doctors. Timur let his mind wander to the idea of going out for a drink with Douglas and the rest of the patrol, being called a lucky son of a bitch and then maybe he could go home with Douglas and just sleep. Nothing raunchy and nothing kinky just... Just sleep next to him and wake up and be okay. Honestly, sleep had never sounded so enticing right now he decided as he let his eyes slip closed and he hummed quietly as he could swear that he heard Douglas's distant voice in his head coaxing him to go to bed. It was blissfully dark when he went limp, body relaxing inadvertently and if he woke up, he would be so fucking happy if this was all just a bad dream.

\---------------------------------------------------------

Waking up proved to be a whole new hell awaiting him. Timur had a crick in his neck and a pain in his lower stomach that made him feel like throwing up as soon as he picked his head up with a whine. His leg was radiating heat all up from his ankle and his gaze wasn't focusing at all. It was dark in the bathroom, completely dark and horrible and it hit him that no, it wasn't a dream. Of course Timur couldn't be so lucky. He felt dehydrated and lethargic, his limbs barely wanting to move despite the ache building in his back and finally, finally, after almost ten supposed minutes he'd managed to get his body to obey him, rolling his shoulders so he could move to drag himself up by way of the toilet seat and then up onto his good leg where he more or less threw himself onto the counter. The room was spinning, or maybe it was his head but Timur didn't care as he tried turning on the tap, thanking whatever was out there as he managed to force his head down to drink it straight from the faucet, hacking a bit when it hit his dry tongue and going back for a bit more.

By the time he was done, he felt partially human, still felt sick as hell but with a not as intense headache. Wobbling out on one foot and a hand to the wall, Timur swallowed thickly at the sight of the bed across from the doorway. The blankets looked a bit moth eaten and dusty but he didn't particularly care for now, his body throbbing painfully with every small motion. Managing to hop his way to it, Timur let himself fall onto the bed face-first. It was lumpy, kind of damp and definitely not the best but to hell with it the brunette decided as he cocooned himself in a blanket, resting on his stomach with his head turned to the side in case he threw up.

That was how he spent the next however long, waking up and falling asleep in a miserable, painful cycle that at times had him throwing up and shaking. Timur did know what was wrong for the most; He was infected. Short, sweet, simple, that was the only explanation. His ankle wasn't helping matters what with it having been broken and by what he assumed was the third day came a whole new level of hell. He'd woken up with his body drenched in sweat, eyes wanting to roll back into his skull as he keened weakly, lips dry and stomach caving in from heaving breaths. Timur could feel the burning under his skin, under the muscles in his back and in his throat. It felt like being doused in scalding water after having been freezing cold, the feeling crawling up into his head and he made to roll onto his back. The resulting zings of pain made him scream hoarsely, back arching and his limbs spasming. Trying to sit up had him falling off the bed and hitting the bed hard and god, the heterochromatic man had never been so happy to be on the other side of the bed since he'd thrown up on the floor on the side he'd started off on. The impact had him crashing off it, hands scrabbling at the floor to try and get away from the new writhing under his flesh, contained by his shirt and tactical vest. Shaky hands worked against the splintery wood, his nails cracking down the middle and his body feverish, hot and cold at the same time. Sobbing was the easiest sound to make right now, the hoarse cries tearing out of his throat weakly and he could feel his legs spasming weakly as he tried to push himself away from something he knew he couldn't.

The burn of a cut, some sort of incision on his skin hit him at the same time as the sound of thunder, the room lighting up with lightning briefly and the sound of rain beating down heavily above him. He wondered briefly if this is how Frankenstein's monster had felt upon waking up, nothing but agony and hellfire in his veins as sweat dripped into the wounds that were staining his hoodie and vest crimson. The feeling of something pushing out of the wounds was what was the worst, and in his panicked, feverish mind, Timur rolled over in a desperate attempt to stop it, back arching as another scream tore from him and he clawed at his vest with useless, bloody fingers. His eyes didn't see much besides the heavy blur and dark edges around him, his good foot kicking out against the warped wood under him and the sound of tearing fabric was a nightmare to him. A small voice in his mind was telling whispering to him so softly, so sweetly it made him sick when he wanted to listen to it.

'Calm down. Accept it, don't fight it.'

Managing to roll back over as whatever was coming out of him managed to break through the thick material of his vest, Timur hid his head in his hands and whined, gagging as the scent of iron assaulted his nose, helplessly drooling copious amounts against the floor under him as he arched his back up away from the floor, the fabric on his back barely soaking up the blood now as it ran down to his shoulders like molasses or honey. Viscuous, slow, sticky and making his skin crawl more than it already was. This is Hell, Timur couldn't help but think, that same voice from earlier cooing softly at him as he sobbed, hearing something heavy coming towards him. Moving his head upwards, he saw what looked like metal shards in the living room across from him, shining silver in the lightning and blurred heavily by his own tears. He hurt, could make out dark shapes touching the floor next to him, could feel them touching the floor and he found himself reaching out towards that shiny metal weakly, a mess and disgusting, his cracked nails still bleeding all down his weakly outstretched hand.

"P... Please," His voice wasn't his own, it was someone else's sobbing and breaking and hoarse as they begged, "Please... please kill me... stop-stop this before ih-ih-it gets fur... further..." It broke off in a whimper, bled into a keen as whatever it was came closer and he felt his head being grabbed by something large and rough with sharp points, being forced up onto his knees and his lower lip trembled. The rest of his body followed, shaking like a leaf and Timur still couldn't get his eyes to focus on what had him. His smaller hands scrabble weakly against what held his head instinctively and whatever had him moved closer, a flash of lightning lighting up it's face and he swallowed, his eyes focusing enough to make out a familiar image of a black mask hiding most of a face, high necked armor hiding most of the lower face and narrowed black eyes examining Timur closer than he could the other. It was the worst infected, the same thing that had almost brought him down on three separate occasions because of how bright the scales would refract the light towards his helicopter.

The Blinder was what had him and he whimpered weakly when he was dropped, head hitting the floor and his vision swimming more than it already had been. He had been moving to push himself back up when a large, spiny foot pressed down on the back of his head in warning, making Timur freeze and lower his head all the way back down and shaking. There was heavy foot falls to his side, clunking and rustling before he was covered in something heavy and cold was draped over his sweating body, whatever was on his back responding by quivering against it and folding down against his bloody skin. Being scooped up into a giant blanket burrito had been unexpected, the thing grabbing him with one hand and dragging the limp brunette up and folding the loose ends around him before heaving him under an arm, the spiked adorning the creatures arms not even penetrating what he supposed was a thick blanket. There was moment when he wriggled slightly, but after almost being dropped, Timur let himself go limp, vision swimming again as they got closer to the door and he keened weakly. The voice was cooing to him again, softly like before,

'You'll make such a good broodmother.'


	3. Wake up Call

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Jager here! This one's gonna have a bit of a less gross sorta thing. It's,,, not super gory so I guess it'll make people happy. But I will say it's kinda weird so go off.
> 
> Warnings: Mentions of gore, injury, infectious disease, parasites fucking with someones body for reproductive reasons, getting over illness, forced bathing, blood, odd anatomy.

Timur had no idea how long they'd been walking, all he knew was that at some point his back was freezing from the rain soaking into the blankets wrapped around him enough that his aching body couldn't stop shaking. He wasn't exactly sure where the Blinder was taking him, the things monstrous steps squelching sickeningly in the mud. There was still light out as he drifted in and out restlessly, what he supposed were new limbs on his back twitching uncontrollably as they tried to settle down comfortably against his itching skin. He wasn't prepared to be rudely dropped on the ground, one of those large feet pressing against the back of his head again when he went to pick himself up. The ache in his body had gotten worse, spreading into his hands and he whimpered as he instead curled up into a ball, shifting enough as those large footsteps clomped away from him and Timur managed to wriggle himself into a fetal position. His breathing was labored and uncomfortable, nausea building up to a hideous level that he choked down. His fever hadn't gone down at all and he had a feeling that the rain hadn't helped with that at all. There was whispering and talking at a quiet level, overlapping around him and the pilot wasn't exactly sure if it was in his head or not as he curled up tighter to try and escape the voices.

Thudding footsteps were back, a rustling above him and a large hand curling around his thin waist and heaving him up off the ground and up into his arms and starting to move deeper into the place they were. Timur was vaguely convinced that the murmuring was coming from the other until the muscles in his face decided to make themselves known. The brunette groaned and buried his face against the others arm; Honestly, he was too exhausted to even feel embarrassed at that fact. Being set down again with more care this time was at least a plus, large hands helping him sit up straight when he swayed forward. The spiked hands in front of him were huge, probably large enough to grab him all the way around and crush him if the other wanted to. It seemed to be too bright yet not bright enough, his swimming vision flip flopping between light and dark and Timur felt his body heave painfully. It didn't even phase the other as he dry heaved in front of them, some bile coming up with a sickening, wet gurgle. The Blinder simply waited it out, dark eyes boring holes into his quivering form. Once the other seemed sure he was done, it simply turned around and rustled around behind it for something. A familiar snip snip noise made Timur tense, especially when he was stripped from the blankets, turned around and had two large claws pressing into the sides of his neck before the rough fingerpads pressed against his pulse. There was the sound of cutting cloth and the pilot froze, breathing starting to come out in panicked panting that only made his stomach hurt and the ache in his body spread painfully. It took painfully long and then his back was exposed to the cold air and the sound of rain pattering above them was deafening in the quiet room.  
He couldn't fight against the large hand around his front, the fingers on the sides of his neck tightening when he tried to squirm away and so he froze and sat still as he was forcibly stripped of his now ruined vest, hoodie and turtleneck. He was let go of and turned around again, this time being pulled up to his feet and the other tugged off his socks and shoes, pausing at what he guessed was the sight of his wrapped ankle before continuing with his trashed pants and boxers. Timur shook like a leaf in front of him, whimpering pitifully as his much smaller form was left bare in front of the other before he was picked up and set into something very cold and very liquid that made him yelp and flail briefly before a large hand pinned both of his arms to his sides and held him still. The brunette supposed that he should probably be grateful the other wasn't trying to, oh, he didn't know, drown him. A minute passed, then two, then ten, and finally after what he guessed was thirty minutes his body had exhausted itself of what remaining energy he had and he let himself relax and blink tiredly up to the other. The large creature next to him simply stayed crouched next to him and watched him before letting go of him. So Timur sat, shivering in the cold water that went up to his hips and the other stood up, an oversized hand pressing against the top of his head and what sounded like a rough voice commanding "Stay". There were a few minutes of silence that had Timur just staring at the ceiling wondering where the fuck he was until the large infected came back with what looked like a large pot.

"Can you move your legs up?" The question had him blinking stupidly, his brain failing him on the infected in front of him having been speaking to him, "Your legs. Can you move them. You will get burnt otherwise." Scrambling on unsteady hands, Timur heard an amused noise come from the other as his brain finally figured it out where he was and Timur heaved himself up onto the edge of the bathtub and huffed in exertion, limbs still shaky. It was still a bit too dark and sickeningly bright at times when he moved but even he was pretty disgusted at the sight of dirty water swirling down the drain before the other filled it back up to midway and pouring the water from the pot in with it, the sudden heat making him tug his feet away while the little voice from earlier let out some sort of excited clicking noise at the feeling. Setting them back in slowly once the Blinder simply added more water and motioned for him to slide back down, Timur slipped, cracking his broken ankle hard against the stone tub.

By the time the black cleared from the edges of his vision, he was briefly aware of the feeling of "Wow that fucking hurts". Keening pathetically was met with a quiet shush and he rolled his head to look at the large monster next to him. The Blinder had apparently fished his foot out of the water and unbandaged it.

"This is... bad break. You are not very careful." The pilot stared at him blankly, eyes portraying how annoyed he was with the rumbled comment hopefully. The water was burning the incisions on his back, probably loosening up any blood that was encrusted there and he honestly wondered if it was possible to get an infection as an Infected. Timur shifted uncomfortably as the larger being picked up a loofa and what looked like soap, moving to sit up to take the items while he wasn't entirely knocked silly by a fever and pain. The Blinder stopped him with a clawed finger to the forehead, pushing down on his flushed face slightly and raising his leg up onto his larger thigh. Timur stayed still, watching him warily as the Infected rubbed the loofa after dipping it into the water and set to work, delicately scrubbing his foot and moving up slowly. It was honestly extremely embarrassing being manhandled and tugged out whenever the other wanted to change the water (which was admittedly sickening, it was grey). By the time the other was done scrubbing the most of him clean and clucking his tongue at the various scratches and small wounds that were rimmed red with infection, Timur had started to drift off into something sleepy and half aware. Then the Blinder touched his back. Oh did hell break loose, alarms going off in his head and the heterochromatic man flailed brutally, trying to dislodge the hand on his arm as he squirmed with wild eyes. He'd ended up being held still with one large hand holding him bent forward, his back exposed and Timur whimpered and keened as his mind gave him a good few scenarios that the Blinder could do to him while he had him in his hands.

The scrubbing on the sensitive skin of his back had him crying out, weak and desperate. There were a few times that the other did stop, loosening the grip around his chest and arms before continuing. By the time the other was done the water was pinkish and he ended up rinsing Timur's back with cold water which had gotten him a complaining noise before once more lifting the other out and redoing the whole process of cleaning the water out again for what was probably the fifth time. By the time he'd come back with a new pot of water, Timur was just ready to go to bed. Instead, he was manhandled again and scrubbed thoroughly once more, the other finally deeming his waxy, sick skin clean enough and starting on his hair. It was short so Timur didn't really think that it would need that much but again he was proven wrong. Chunks of dirt had made the water dirty enough that the neat-freak of an infected helping him had deemed it needing changed after scrubbing him twice must to his exasperation and Timur's exhaustion. The next few rounds came out significantly cleaner and the deep bass of a hum from the other was the only warning he got before the pilot was unceremoniously scooped out and set on the counter near the tub. He was at least set on a towel and he swayed as he gripped the edge of the stone under his hands. Had it always been this cold? Maybe it was just the rain. It was still really loud outside.

Timur groaned as the other toweled him off, drying him just as thoroughly as he's made sure he was scrubbed. Then he pulled out rubbing alcohol and for once that little voice hissed just like he did at the sight, the unnerving feeling of extra limbs raising not deterring the discomfort of having that touch him.

"Spider is being a big baby. Stop it." it was growled as the Blinder started on his back, taking the largest wounds out with medical precision and ignoring how the extra legs were scrabbling at him without doing any damage. After that consisted of forcing out the pus from the smaller cuts and slices on him, making him have to shush Timur as he cleaned them out. The last thing he did was rewrap his broken foot, making sure it wouldn't budge and inch before securing it. Sitting back on his haunches and examining the now squeaky clean pilot, the other infected grunted and wrapping him up in a dry towel before heaving him up with the same ease he'd been demonstrating all day (night?) and dragging him out of the bathroom. Timur shifted slightly, trying to get a look at his surroundings and getting shifted back to how he was squished against the other's chest. The squeak of a door opening barely registered as his eyes drooped tiredly and he was set down in a bundle of limp limbs. Trying to watch the other wander off to close the door proved to be too difficult a task, the brunette stifling a yawn as he closed his eyes to the sound of drawers opening.

\------------------------------------------------------

The next few times he woke up followed a subsequent pattern: Have fever checked, be forced to drink water and eat something, throw up, mumble in a fever induced discomfort, go back to sleep, wake up again, go to the bathroom with help, go back to sleep, repeat. At times when he was somewhat lucid the other infected was staring at him and tried to ask him questions that he barely understood over the loud chatter in his head, or the few times that the door had been open and he saw the large infected talking to another and then it was back to sleep. By the time he'd managed to stay awake and lucid, Timur was cold. He was cold and slightly wet and that was very very concerning. Shifting agitated his foot and rolling onto his back was a problem and he groaned. Laying there proved to just make whatever was wet on him get sticky and he'd been out here long enough to know what blood felt like on his skin by now. Timur layed there, frowning at a wall as his lower stomach twinged painfully. It kind of felt like that one time Marina had accidentally stabbed his hand while she tried to carve something into the table next to his hand and looked away for a second cause Raul had said something to her.

The more he woke up the worse it got apparently. It turned into a stabbing, burning, twisting thing in his guts and he moaned in discomfort, curling up into a ball as the door opened to the room. Something dropped to the floor and the large footsteps were back and loud as they came towards him. A nudge to his shoulder had him looking up blearily at the other infected, the large man not wearing that mask of his or the heavy armor and helmet. The giant horns were sticking out of messy hair that stuck up proudly out of a small ponytail.

"What is wrong, I smell blood. Have you reopened your back?" He was rolled so his face was towards the mattress and his bare skin was examined and that got a confused grunt in response before he was rolled over and the bedsheets were unceremoniously tossed off him. The smell of blood made him gag a bit and the surprised blink from the other was enough to warrant Timur to look down slightly. One of his legs was grabbed and pushed to the side with the other narrowing his eyes. Opening his mouth, Timur snapped it closed as two large fingers rubbed up his crotch and yeah, no, that didn't feel right at all. Managing to look down all the way finally proved to ease his confusion and just start up the newest bout of it. God, Timur really just hoped this was a fever dream.

\---------------------------------------

It wasn't a dream, he wasn't still asleep in some kind of fever coma and now he had the added problem of... this. The way that the other had explained it to him seemed like complete and utter nonsense; The parasite he had contracted at some point had caused the fever, started the infection, then it went and died and now he, Timur, the most unfortunate human probably in the history of ever, was now sporting spider legs out his back and uh, a change from having a penis to a vagina. When he asked how, he got a nonchalant shrug, got dragged out of bed, hassled into the bathroom and stuck in the bathtub for the nine thousandth time since being here. The Infected in front of him insisted on scrubbing him, now doing the additional work of taking care of his newly sprouted leg and making a comment about them being surprisingly large and strong. Something to do with jumping and climbing that Timur didn't want to think about using them for, or even having them. Then came the most awkward moment of his life: Being physically examined by the large infected in front of him.

His bad leg was lifted so that it wasn't in the water, high enough for the other to easily see him and then two claws were prying it open and okay, maybe he shouldn't have done what he did but in his defense it was a reflexive reaction. Timur had let out a squeal and then he proceeded to crack a fist on top of the others head in a panic, prompting him to move his hand glower up at him in a way that had the brunette tensing on reflex.

"I am trying to help." It was growled and he moved his hand back, going to try and pull apart the lips of his new genitalia and one of his new legs moved to block him. And then another. All of them subsequently curled towards his front and his him as Timur felt his face turn crimson and yeah, he was probably going to be a limb short for this by the way the other's face kept darkening at the sight which made him panic.

"I-I uh, I um-" Getting heaved up wasn't what he expected, the larger infected simply scooping him up and setting him on the toilet, turning away from him and suddenly it was way too bright in the room. Blinking dumbly at the sudden light from what was very obviously lightbulbs and electricity, another fact cracked him in the face; There had been no lights on every other time but it had looked perfectly normal. There were hands on his thighs pushing him backwards and shoving his legs away and okay, yeah, this wasn't comfortable but now that the Blinder was stuck in between his legs, large shoulders and spines blocking the way for his now scrabbling limbs to intercept, the other was capable of doing his examination. It was... odd, to put it nicely. Timur squirmed away from the touch to the inside of it and the outside, jerking away desperately when he prodded at his clitoris. After what felt like eternity, the other was done and Timur couldn't stifle the horrible blush crawling on his face.

Turning away, the Blinder rustled around in the cabinet behind him, "Thought I'd never have to use these until my girl's got big enough. Do you know what this is?" He turned around, two claws holding- Oh God Timur wanted to melt into the ground and disappear. Held in his claws was a pristinely wrapped, bona fide tampon and quite plainly, the look on his face must have amused the other greatly. Then his sentence set in.

"W-wait," Timur croaked, trying to sit up normally but being stopped by a hand on his belly, "You said your girls? You have children?"

"We can reproduce, surprise. However, my children are all adopted, and I would like them to meet you so you had better stay still and let me make sure you live. I would hate for them to have to watch me dig a hole." A sharp prick to his belly from those claws had Timur sitting ramrod straight, face turning red as he basically got a verbal run down of how to use period supplies. And if the pilot had yelped and whined like a kicked puppy when he got an unfortunate hands on demonstration, well, that was his own business to pretend never happened.

\-------------------------

Timur had never been happier to be a blanket burrito than at this current point in time, where he was currently pretending the other infected didn't exist. Following the horrific events of this morning, he'd been drug back to bed and forced to eat some toast and then he was left alone. And thank god for that. Hiding in the sheets was easier than having to face the larger man who had already embarrassed him enough today. Timur squirmed slightly in discomfort, his body acutely aware of what was going on and his brain and common sense were screaming a him that this was wrong, something was very incorrect in his body. But that stupid, niggling little voice was back.  
'One step closer. It's only one step closer and you'll be perfect.'

"Fuck off I don't want to deal with you." The voice laughed at him and now the brunette was very much so convinced he was going insane.

'Don't be like that. You should be happy; You and that human you're friends with could do so much more now.' And of that made Timur's blood run cold. The very idea of Douglas being out in the hot zones made him shudder because what if he ended up like him? The voice purred at him and he stomped it down in annoyance, grinding his teeth until it shut up. Once he was certain it was quiet, he let himself drift in some kind of daydream. What would happen if maybe, just maybe, Douglas did find him like this? Maybe he'd be okay with it, as long as he was still sane and able to be the same Timur he knew? The new problems with his body weren't anything super important besides what was currently going on downstairs. What if Douglas became infected? He didn't want to entertain that thought, shoving it away again and nosing against the pillows tiredly. He was honestly getting really sick of being naked, still feeling some kind of chill in his bones he didn't want to deal with and he huffed with his eyes closed, hoping a nap would make it better and stave off his boredom. He was really sick of not being able to do much.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Jager here! This one's starting with a memory, just a little look into how Timur got stuck in this shit and how he met Douglas.  
> Warnings: spiders, domestic, may be kinda trippy in the beginning, flashback

 

* * *

_There was rain that pattered around the glass of the Dome, echoing in a tune much more comforting than the rest of the new patrol that had been released from the orientation of what their duties would be working on the outside and inside of the dome, what kind of ridiculous amount of regulations and strict guidelines they were trying to enforce giving him a headache. He looked down at the little pin on his suit lapel, stating his name and job for anyone in the base to see and know: Timur Hwa, pilot. He'd already been stopped a good few times, talking and chatting simply for no reason besides that they could. He wasn't especially bad looking per-se but he was aware his eyes were odd. Tired eyes in a slant, monolidded but not hiding his heterochromia from the others, his nose more small and flat than his mother's would ever be but mimicking his father's perfectly. He was undoubtedly tall, that gene didn't skip him over at least, with longer limbs that were full of wiry muscles and the kind of lithe strength more befitting of a runner. His cropped hair was an almost black-brown, and his tanned skin was nothing short of flawless. So far, Timur had attracted quite a few of the girls from the orientation, them giggling as they asked about him and stating how they've never seen him around the dome. He'd replied that he highly doubted it through his mask as he tried to adjust to the new atmosphere and they all laughed and giggled and he felt like he had just switched schools and was already popular. It was draining. So he told them, under pale light drifting through the strong glass all around them and under the shade of trees that were carefully cultivated and sown here. They kept walking, the group around him making the pilot slightly uncomfortable as they toured the facilities._

_It couldn't have finished fast enough in his mind; Timur wasn't what one could call antisocial, but he would rather not have been hassled like he had been by the higher-ups or swooned over by women and men alike at how "brave" he was to fly. Walking through the open air walkway through the green courtyard had been a nice way to relax from that stress, the lamps starting to come on as it was getting darker outside the Dome. It was probably the loud screaming that had caught his attention, or maybe the sudden motion of someone practically flying off a bench and cursing like a sailor that broke the quiet peace he'd managed to make. Seeing them trying to stomp on something had been what got to him, Timur looking between the door to leave and the person before hopping over the small divider and yelling at them. The blonde man stopped and looked at him in shock as Timur dove under his foot, cupping his hands over the unfortunate creature that had almost been squashed into a pulp. Shifting so he could sit up and cup his hands around the arachnid, the brunette simply turned away from the paler man to lift up his cupped hands and get a good sight over the spider just tapping along his hand. It had long, spindly legs and claws on the front and he huffed a laugh at the little eyes looking back at him._

_"Oh for the love of God please fucking kill that thing!" Turning his two toned gaze back to the other in apparent exasperation as he let the wolf spider tentatively crawl up his arm, Timur studied the other man in the dim light. The man had a squarer jaw, all around a very broad man with golden stubble and a heavy black and white uniform adorning him. Wavy blonde locks and thick eyebrows that were drawn up in fear following the spider's path up his arm were rather fitting on his face. Turning back to the arachnid, and stopping its steady progress to his shoulder, Timur shook his head as he held it in his hand._

_"It isn't doing anything to you. Besides, you wouldn't want to kill a wolf spider."_

_"Oh yeah, why not bug man?"_

_"First off, spiders fall under the classification of Arachnids, not bugs. Secondly," He grinned as he nudged past the other to a row of bushes near them, setting his hand down, "Should they have been female, you would have been swarmed with slings."_

_The confusion is palpable on the other's face as he looks down at the pilot curiously watching as the spider skitters off under the bushes, "What the fuck is a sling?"_

_"You would have been covered in baby spiders." It was hilarious how the man had a full body shiver at the sudden thought, looking for all intents and purposes like he was going to throw up. Standing, Timur brushed off his suit, frowning at the small tear in it and huffing through his nose slightly. He'd have to take it to be cleaned and probably stitch it up himself when he got home. He gave the man an appraising look before turning away to head through the main arch of the area that lead out to the stone and steel city around the area._ _The crunch of footsteps behind him had the pilot raising an eyebrow, especially when the man got in front of him to grab his name tag. He raised an eyebrow at the man's incredulous expression, knitting them together when the slightly taller man looked him dead in the face with the same kind of expression as his own._

_"Timur Hwa," And oh did he want to slap him at how that pronunciation was butchered, "What kind of schizophrenic ass name is that?"_

_The resounding crack and cry of pain that echoed throughout the courtyard was a bit more satisfying than it should have been._

* * *

Waking up with a jolt had jostled his bad leg, the sheets twisting around it and Timur scrambled to come too faster. Now that he wasn't feverish and probably dying, he could make out the room he was in. It was mostly wooden planks on the walls, a small square with a dresser crammed into it in front of him with a simple black-rimmed mirror against the dull, whitish wood wall. The floor boasted a beat up, somewhat threadbare rug with what was an indeterminate pattern on it that was probably once beautiful colours but was now probably just good for soaking up the draft. The bed he was on was queen sized, decent for sprawling and squashed against the window with a doorless closet at the foot. The thick quilt was thrown over his legs and the bright light pouring in through the windows hurt his eyes as he looked towards them. Sitting up just made his back hurt and now he understood how it felt for cats whenever a cucumber was put behind them without their knowledge. A large, thick, _fuzzy_ leg was on the bed next to him, followed by another and another and Timur paled as he rubbed at his face, resting his cheek against his palm as he stared at them.

' _So it was all just a dream._ ' The memory of meeting Douglas for the first time was still fresh in his mind, hand hurting as though he'd punched the man in the jaw all over again. The legs were shorter than the ones on the body he'd put his hands into by accident and thicker, the joints a stark white while the exoskeleton on these ones he had were quite embarrassingly a light pink. The fuzz on them was white at the ends and pink in the middle. Touching them revealed that they weren't a soft fur like he thought while looking at it, instead being urticating hairs like what was on tarantulas. Timur stared at them, eyes narrowed at them as he chewed on his lower lip. He was reminded of his earlier 'talk' with the Blinder about his new nature, the in-depth explanation the one thing he could do without as he felt a twinge in his belly. There was movement on his arm and he looked to see one of his new limbs touching the floor and he frowned, sliding to the edge of the bed. If he could try this it would at least be easier than if he had to wait for the oversized behemoth of an infected to come back and carry him to the bathroom. It was more or less an achievement getting his illness-weakened body to stand on it's own, the limbs supporting his hunched body shakily and Timur huffed a bit, his leg shaking as he leaned his weight on his supporting limbs as he drug the quilt with him. The rug under him wasn't as threadbare as it looked he decided it was when he woke up, actually rather plush when his good foot squished down onto it. He was practically cocooned in the quilt, using a weird mix of stumbling forwards and actually falling to get to the door.

If he was to say that opening a door in an infected hellhole was his biggest achievement this week besides not dying, he was okay with that. The door itself was heavy and the hinges squeaked somewhat as he opened it, looking down the hall curiously as he did so. There was a staircase there at the very end, the plain banister curling around and then down. There were two more doors on the other side of the hall, one next to his own, and the one closest to his right at the other end furthest from the stairs was the bathroom. He continued his hobbling, falling walk to the end of the hall and opening the door with a sigh. Time to figure out what the hell he was supposed to do.

* * *

It had been maybe an hour of agonizing before he figured out what to do, mixed with ten or twenty minutes of glowering at himself in the mirror at the sight of his waxy, pale skin and the deep bags below his eyes. His hair was sticking up funny and he had to force himself to wash his hands, which quite honestly seemed much more bony and long currently, and grab the quilt from the floor to cocoon himself in again. He barely touched the door as it was pulled open hastily, revealing a very wide-eyed, near hysterical Blinder who's eyes immediately locked onto him in brief relief but mostly annoyance and exasperation. Timur froze under the look, feeling like he was being stared down by a very disappointed mother at the current moment as he locked eyes with him briefly.

"What are you doing in here?"

"I uh, I had to, to, you know-"

"Ah." There was an awkward silence hanging over them as they stood , they both looked ridiculous standing in the tiny bathroom but at least Timur could say he fit in there with ease. Quite honestly, the infected still scared the hell out of him, his height easily overpowering his and Timur shifted nervously with a red face as his long fingers curled around the edge of the sheet tightly as the other moved out of the way to let him skitter out from the room as quickly as he could. Squeaking embarrassingly as he was lifted suddenly, the pilot stared at the other who looked even angrier than before. His shoulders shook, and Timur looked away to try and avoid making him any angrier than he already probably was. Being deposited on the bed was something that didn't surprise him, not exactly gentle but not violent either and he looked up at him. The larger infected simply sat on the floor, his massive form was bulky and the variety of spikes and branching forms on his body sticking up uncomfortably as long and huge arms and hands propped on his knees. Shifting awkwardly under the other's piercing gaze, the pilot felt his legs shit to curl around his chest and ribs, settling themselves comfortably.

"You seem lucid now," The comment got a quiet nod, Timur not looking at the other, "You wanna tell me your name, I think I've earned that much."

He stumbled over his tongue for a minute, finally getting out a quiet 'Timur Hwa' that made the other grunt in reply. There was an extended moment of silence, long and awkward and just nervous before the Blinder just rubbed at his face and sighed.

"Why are you so nervous? _Why_? Most people from the dome would be spitting mad about being infected and instead all you did was ask me to kill you and now you're just-"

"I'm _sad_." The other looked like he'd been slapped upside the head, blinking in surprise and befuddlement. Timur let himself curl up more, the feeling of those four spidery limbs covered in exoskeleton and fluff, his forearms that had skin aching on them currently and the weight of his own situation starting to bury him, voice cracking something horrible, "I'm sad and miserable and I do. I want to die. I can't go back home, my helicopter is destroyed, everyone thinks I'm dead-"

"Helicopter? You're a pilot?" Timur twitched, looking up at the other. His dark eyes were wide and surprised before even more scrutinizing than before, "You're the pilot who's always flying around, the one who the twins downed by accident."

The silence that stretched out from that statement alone was chilling. It had taken Timur maybe a moment, three tops to get his thoughts together, fists clenched in the quilt harshly and oh. Oh that was not what he'd wanted to hear. The Blinder must have noticed the steady darkening on his face, the way his lips were pulling back from his mouth as he started to seethe to himself and he seemed to almost scramble to come up with an explanation or some topic change. But no, now Timur was pissed. His entire hell was the result of an _accident_? He was taken out of the sky by _accident_ , by a _joke_? The brunette wanted to scream because holy _shit_ , he could of been at home, back with people he knew, not sick as a dog for a week due to some parasite that couldn't stick around after it fucked him up and made him a freak and now he was just supposed to, what, _live with it_?

"Let's not talk about that, my name is Joel and-"

"What," the infected in front of him tensed, hands freezing as he stopped trying to wave them around as if he could just brush his blunder under the rug, "The hell do you mean by _accident_? Are you saying that a _full systems failure_ caused by heavy electrical discharge was a fucking _joke_?!" The Blinder, or Joel as he said he was called, looked like he was grappling with the choices that he was given. Tell him or don't tell him, what happens with each and Timur narrowed his eyes, rolling so he was flopped on his side on the bed, ignoring the halting excuses that the other was trying to think up.

Closing his eyes, Timur huffed in annoyance that bled away to a depressingly keen note of despair, "Leave me alone."

The statement halted the other's choppy progress to explaining and there was silence. There was rustling behind him and Timur heard the other stand and move about, half expecting him to leave but getting a hand wrapping around his waist and pulling him up. He was held in front of dark eyes and he didn't even bother hiding what was going on in his head, the other seeming to get that the miserable look on his charge's face wasn't going to change and Joel sighed at him. Setting Timur under his arm tightly and dragging him out of the room with him seemed to be the plan and the man let himself be manhandled as he thought. Douglas probably thought he was dead. That meant that the statement he'd made earlier in the week about being home before he knew it was moot. He wasn't going to be home to see the other or their various friends or enjoy their weird relationship anymore. If he got stuck out here with the large infected for the rest of however long, then Timur couldn't see himself lasting. He didn't want this and he didn't pay much attention to where he was until he was dropped on another bed and unceremoniously unwrapped by the other.

Sitting up just made him a bit dizzy but he narrowed his eyes at the other man. The Blinder had turned away from him, looking around in a wardrobe with his thin lips pursed and finally threw a bundle of cloth at the other. Timur jolted as it hit him, looking at the bundle in his lap in confusion and back up at him.

"Put them on, I'm taking you outside."

"What if I don't want too?"

"Then I'll make you," Joel looked serious, crossing huge, scaled arms and staring him down, "We've been here for about a week, we need to relocate for now. This was just to make sure you didn't die or go mad."

Looking at the clothes and then up at Joel, Timur felt his brow furrowing, looking down at the bundle in his lap and rustling it around a bit before setting it back down with a red face.

"I'm not wearing this."

That was the worst thing to say apparently because Joel hadn't been asking.

* * *

It was honestly rather frightening how used to being manhandled Timur was getting. He also wasn't going to admit to the amount of squeaking and other uncomfortable noises that he never knew he could make from being tossed around and yeah, this just made him that little bit more miserable that he'd been feeling since he crawled out of his helicopter almost a week and a half ago. Maybe he could blame that as his reason for being easy to toss around. Especially now. He hadn't been expecting to be stuffed into a pair of way to large sweatpants, the clothing item could literally be hiked up to under his chest and still get rolled up at the bottoms, a hoodie that cut off at his belly and, by far the worst thing to be wearing, a pair of panties. Lacy ones because that's all the other could find in his size and Timur was red in the face the entire time he was harassed into wearing the articles of clothing. His newer limbs were put through some newly made holes in the cropped hoodie's back, er, well, the top ones at least. The bottom ones could pretty much just do their own thing, sticking out the back and Timur had never felt so out of place in clothing but there was a first for everything wasn't there? Of course, once he'd been harassed into clothing, he was drug outside and carried down the steps in a hurry that he couldn't understand, Joel seeming eager to move him out of the area as soon as he could. The outside was overgrown, tall grass curling around rotting fences and posts and the ground leading up to the porch that was jacked up on some cinderblocks was falling to the side. At the end of the path was some sort of cart and Timur looked at the other in confusion.

Joel was looking around, using his reflective growths like mirrors and calming to set him up in the cart next to some bags and Timur looked at him worriedly. He didn't like this, it was decently cold outside of the house and maybe it was because of the stupid infection or him getting over being ill but it made him exceedingly uncomfortable. Maybe Joel did this a lot, moving around and disappearing after finding people. The blinder had moved to the front of the cart, grabbing it and moving away from the old home as soon as he got a decent grip on the handles. They went in silence, Joel hushing Timur anytime he tried to ask him questions about this or that or where they were going. And so Timur laid himself down. And he dozed. And he very boredly played with the strings on his borrowed sweat pants and watched the sun through the canopy.

It continued to be long and boring but he supposed he should be thankful that whatever had Joel pressured to leave quickly was something that had him at least dragging the pilot with him. Maybe it was another Infected's territory and they were coming back or tracking them or angry. They kept going until they were crossing over some large stone bridge, Timur leaning out to stare down into the clearer water below and watching some small fish swim around. The sun was mostly down, Joel hadn't stopped at all and didn't seemed to even be tired at all. The dirt that was heavily trodden gave way to worn down stones and the slight bumpiness to the ride had Timur jolting uncomfortably every time they hit one too big. The amount of ground they covered was a bit ridiculous for just one day and Timur looked around Joel to see a house in the distance. It was large, two story and looked like it had been built out of large logs. Even from here he could guess that the door was large enough for Joel to fit his bulk through comfortably and Timur looked up at the other cautiously. So they had been relocating, but it was back to Joel's house. The large infected stopped his cart closer to the large house, just inside the neat stone that looked like it had been redone. Grabbing the bags, the large infected looked more at ease being in the area than he had been at the other house. There was a front garden and the grass seemed well taken care of, the sprouts of plants natural to the planet growing there and thriving with ease. Timur looked up at the other man as he was grabbed like the bags and placed on his good foot softly, his bare foot crunching against the dirt. He managed to get his new limbs under him, the thick legs digging sharp tips into the soft ground and keeping him upright. Lifting his good foot of the ground experimentally led to him easily suspending himself and he looked over at Joel as the large man made a noise of interest.

The blinder was watching him, dark eyes curious and Timur huffed, focusing on moving himself forwards. The large infected lumbered next to him, keeping pace with ease.

"I suppose you won't be needing crutches then." Joel's comment had him stumbling as he lost focus, blinking up at him.

"I guess not? I'd prefer to walk like a normal person though." The snort he got had him rolling his eyes. He supposed Joel was used to people being difficult and Timur was trying to make it easy on the man. The closer they got to the door, the more obvious the noise from the lit house was. It was voices, and once they got to the lower step (huh, more stone, maybe the large infected was a stone mason) the huge front door was flung open and Joel was dropping the bags and something small and fast was flinging itself to the man with a loud shriek. Timur watched as Joel caught whatever it was and tossed them into the air slightly before setting them against his shoulder. A small girl was clinging to his neck, talking at a rapid fire pace that the pilot could barely keep up with. He understood "You're home", "Welcome back" and "Daddy", the last word making his eyes go wide in surprise as the large infected settled the comparatively very small, very human girl onto his shoulder.

Joel simply turned to him, motioning to the rather proud looking girl on his large shoulder, "Olivine, this is a new friend." If he'd thought Joel was intimidating, his daughter had a lot more going on than he did in that department.

"Can we call you mom?" Timur was glad that Joel also looked like he wanted to die at that sentence's uttering.

* * *

It turned out Olivine wasn't Joel's only child; He had seven more. Eight daughters, all of them with very... unique traits. Mute was a silent master with no facial movement, Jean had a twitch to her left arm she couldn't stop, Helga was half blind and spoke in broken sentences, Marie had a stutter; They were the most normal of all those unique traits. Frog had what he guessed was severe ADHD, Kassie would space out so bad she always had to have someone near her, and Kit couldn't feel anything in the right side of her body. Olivine had anger issues a mile wide and the fists to back it up. They all seemed very interested in him and the rest of the night was them trying to show the pilot around the house. Apparently Joel made everything that was furniture wise and found anything that he couldn't make, they had a larger set of crops in the back of the house as well as a patio and apparently Joel was planning on making a stone walkway in the front soon. By the end of the night Olivine had managed to convince all of the other girls into calling him 'Mom' and Timur's arm was still aching from him trying to say that he wasn't a girl nor mother material. It didn't help that he got stuck sharing a bed with Joel since they didn't have any spare room, something he supposed was fair, except Joel apparently clung to things in his sleep and if that hadn't been hard to deal with the man was a living radiator.

Of course falling asleep was decently easy though, children were nothing if not exhausting and quite plainly Timur was more than ready to just pass out for the next day and a half. It was great, he slept okay for the first time in a while (only after a lecture on hygiene and more information he didn't need about what to wear to bed for blood and the like from Joel, sweet Christ). It was something else to be woken up in the morning though because of kids. He'd ended up being jumped on by Mute, the thin girl landing on his thighs and making him jolt when she slapped a hand against the middle of his back. The sore skin there throbbed at the sudden flare of pain and he turned to look at her.

"What?" It was groggy, a tad pained, and she stared him down without blinking before flopping into the empty spot next to him and staring at him. The one thing about Mute was that she was albino, so whenever she stared at him he had to fight down chills when her pink eyes focused in on his own mismatched pair.

"Let me guess," He mumbled, "Time to wake up?" The nod he got had him groaning as he rolled back onto his stomach before pushing himself up with his arms under him. Rubbing at his face as he did so, he looked at Mute, the girl watching him blankly before putting his finger to his lips.

Mute's eyes lit up at his next words, "I'll let you sleep in with me if you don't go and get anyone else." Timur had to admit, it was kind of funny how fast she burrowed under the covers to press up against his side. Settling in had him ending up on his back in the middle of the bed with his extra limbs curled under his ribcage and a young girl with her back pressed to his arm.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hello, Jager here! This one's gonna be fluffier, and we get to see a new infected type. Joel has anger issues.
> 
> Warnings: fluff, domestic fluff, family life, home invasions, stalkers, misdirected parental rage,

 

* * *

Waking up again had been an absolutely hilarious start to the week; There had been a weight on his chest and some kind of clicking sound, like the sound of a camera shutter and upon lifting his head, Timur had been confronted with a grinning Joel holding a camera while he himself was weighed down with all of the Blinder's children laying on him. Of course that meant that by the time he actually was ready to get up, Joel had come and added himself to the pile and he'd been stuck under the large man's arm as everyone ended up sleeping for a whole other hour. That also meant that by the time everyone moved off him, he had all of his limbs asleep which had been by far the most uncomfortable thing out there. It had ended with Joel cackling to himself while helping rub feeling back into his arms and legs and a bunch of eight-year-old or younger kids watching and giggling and yeah, even his new limbs had started locking up, the spider legs having to be gently pried from around himself. Joel had waved them off to wash their faces and get clothes on as Timur managed to sit up and stretch uncomfortably.

From there it seemed like a developed routine, Timur falling in as the cook because apparently Joel was horrible at cooking despite having children. Everything had too much spice or salt or was a bit crispy (or ashy, if he actually had to say). Of course that had been hilarious, the girls all immediately asking if the pilot knew how to cook before Helga very plainly stated that Joel _couldn't_ cook. That had gotten an affronted look and then he'd been ganged up on by his daughters as they all started giving examples and Timur raised an eyebrow at the fact that the man had almost burned down the kitchen before. At least that explained why it looked the newest in the house. That also meant that when he asked for something the kids were all jumping to find it, much to his amusement and Joel's exasperation as he sat there rather dejectedly. Mixing batter and, -just so the man would stop sulking- making Joel crack the eggs and whisking them was the easiest. Joel had looked perplexed as the smaller proceeded to oil a pan and turn out quite a decent stack of pancakes (some with blueberries and strawberries cause Olivine wanted to see just what he could do). Of course eggs were just as fast and by the time everyone was seated and had some it was loud and stupidly familiar to how he and the other's back home would act. Not just at the Dome, where they were all practically children with extra strong coffee piling into one or the other's tiny apartments, but back on Dellica with his actual family, the cold of the snow planet kept away by the homey feeling that penetrated the environment. His mom and dad always harassing him to join them for breakfast, the odd one or three siblings that could make it being there, everyone helping like they had for years. Someone would pretend to be annoyed, jokingly saying they were going to be late when everyone knew that wasn't true-

He hadn't noticed that he'd been just staring down at the plate until a small hand was touching his arm, making Timur jolt. Looking to the side, Frog was staring at him, large green eyes blinking at him owlishly, "Hey hey, mom, are you okay?"

That sentence had made the rest of the table quiet and Timur flinched as he was stared at. He gently patted her hand, moving it off his arm and forcing a smile he hoped was passable.

"I'm fine. I'm still getting over being sick is all." Even if they didn't buy it, the sound level slowly rose and everyone went back to talking loudly about what they wanted to do today. Timur simply pretended not to notice Joel's staring at him as he was roped into a conversation with Kit and Jean, Marie joining in and someone blowing a raspberry as Timur simply sighed and wiped Frog's mouth with a napkin after having to keep her from choking on food when she laughed way to loud at Olivine very loudly exclaiming that she found out how babies were made and Joel almost lost his mind. Quite plainly, Timur wasn't sure how the man was even alive still with how many children he had to worry about. Probably sheer spite. That or pure determination.

* * *

After the dishes were cleaned and the table was taken care of, the day progressed decently quickly. Since they'd arrived at the darker hours, Timur hadn't really gotten a good look at the place; Now that he had, that same tick he had from his younger years was kicking into full gear. Never had he had a dirty apartment, and his parents had never allowed for a dirty house so the dusty, dirty, downright grimy state of some of the areas was eating at him. He'd changed, showered, done whatever to feel slightly less disgusting and now he was definitely ready to do something about this mess. The girls had watched him cringe into the sunlight when he took the drapes down from literally every room, then found any blankets and clothes, -that included stripping the beds despite Joel's insistance that he needn't go that far only to earn a nightmare of a glower-, and scrubbing them clean by hand. That had killed his arms, Timur having to change the water so many times he lost track and hanging everything up to dry outside before huffing to himself.

Then he really dug his nails into the house. Olivine had almost fallen over when he stated that he was going to clean her room out so if she had anything she didn't want him touching she'd better hide it and that that went for everyone else. Carpets were drug outside and the kids seemed entertained when he showed them how to beat it like his mother showed him and he went back inside to start. It took _hours_ for him to finally be done with just the four rooms the girls shared, the windows open to let in fresh air and he was decently certain that the walls hadn't been the clean blues and purples and pinks and yellows they were now when he'd gone in there. Same with the floors, and his aching shoulders and shaking hands from scrubbing the once grey wood back to a light mahogany was worth it cause they all seemed shocked at the change. Joel himself had looked a bit stunned as Timur sat himself in the hallway and wiped at his forehead in exhaustion. Going downstares showed that the clothes and blankets had been folded for him so that was one thing he hadn't needed to do, saying a pleasant thank you to the girls and by association, Joel. The giggling and the unexpected hugging of his legs had been a surprise in and of itself and when he went and laid down on the couch no one stopped him. Timur'd ended up with a nap buddy though, Mute quite plainly climbing on him and flopping down on his chest to use him as her personal pillow and of course that meant relocating to the floor cause everyone else felt like napping then. Joel said something about crops and needing a hand and thank god for that cause everyone but Mute seemed ready to get up and go at that.

The brunet felt he had managed to snag at least an hour and a half before waking up again, his shoulders and the back of his head killing him. Mute was nowhere to be found, but the sound of chatter outside was the answer he guessed made the most sense. Sitting up lead to his back cracking miserably and he stood slowly, his extra legs easily supporting him as he used those to move to the front door. Opening it had him looking at Joel's back, the man lounging on the porch steps and only looking up once the quiet _tap-tap-tap_ of Timur's walking pulling his attention up to him. All eight of his kids were running around in the front yard as the pilot settled himself down next to him on the top step and Joel simply shifted his large limbs to make some room for the slighter form next to him. They were just silent, sitting there and soaking up dying light before going inside and basically repeating the morning's events. Joel's exasperated expression at being told to just watch the stove for him was funny at least. Being almost crushed by the other's embrace when he tried to sleep again wasn't so fun.

* * *

So the week drug on: Get up, eat, make the kids get cleaned up, get cleaned up, clean as many rooms as physically possible and once that ran out either help Joel in the fields in the back of the house or watch the children. Then when it rolled around to dusk hang out outside on the front porch while Joel's kids chased fireflies, then inside for dinner and washing up, then bed. It was a stupidly simply routine to adapt to, Joel simply laughing when Timur failed to do something simple for him and difficult for the smaller man. That had been funny for five minutes until Timur jabbed him with the hard end of one of his new limbs, making the man yelp and rub his side. A cheap win, but still a win. The worst surprise had come when they'd been sitting outside, nothing else to really do in the heat of the afternoon sun for once. Joel was practically melted against the floorboards of the wooden porch, Olivine and the others seemingly unaffected by the scorching weather. It had surprised him when they came up to him, Kit and Helga holding comically large baskets in their hands and eights sets of eyes looking at him expectantly.

"Er… what?"

"Come pick berries with us! We can make a pie!" Frog's loud voice made him cringe a bit and he looked back out over the yard with a squint. Even the grass was wilted, acting like it'd rather be doused in gasoline and lit on fire. Timur could only say he felt the same.

"... It's hot though." It was deadpanned, said as though that should be extremely obvious but only got him a resounding round of expectant silence. Looking to Joel, the man simply waved a hand at him before letting it flop back down and Timur sighed, peeling himself out of the chair and grimacing as rivulets of sweat dripped down his back. It only figured they'd want to run around on a hot, humid day; Children just liked to do things that made no sense to him in the end. Heaving himself up onto his back legs, he started down the steps with a small herd around him. Mute lead the way, down the beaten dirt path onto the cracked and worn flagstone road and to the left towards the bridge. Ducking into the shade of the trees towering up above them, they continued up a near secluded path and towards an open clearing. Timur followed them towards the large bushes around the edges, looking as Jean and Marie wasted no time in setting to them with an unusually attentive Kassie, Kit dropping the basket between them all.

Timur followed as Olivine drug him to another patch with Frog, Helga and Mute, pointing out small black berries, "See those? Dad said they're like the blackberries from Earth. They grow in twos and fours, but if there's five, you can't touch 'em. When you pick 'em, break off the twig like this."

"And why not the five growth ones?" The little brunette stared at him before shaking her head and plucking off a twig to drop in.

"They're poisonous, the black ones eat 'em." And if that wasn't the most damn ominous sentence out of a child's mouth, Timur wasn't sure what was. Instead of pressing for more, he started in on the higher berries, making sure to count them before grabbing them and dropping them into the basket. The pilot made a mental note to check over all the clusters before taking the baskets inside. So they set to work, grabbing as many as they could and jumping from bushes to bushes, counting carefully to avoid making any mistakes. Every now and then he'd look up and do a headcount, noting who was where before going back to what he was doing. They must've been there for a while since by the time both of the large baskets were full the sun was in a further down position, one of the moons for the planet peeking through the blue of the sky. Doing another head count made him panic, immediately calling out names much to the girl's confusion as he counted again and once more. Marie and Helga, check, Olivine and Kit, check, Jean and Mute, check, Kassie, check. Frog. Where was Frog?!

They started around the clearing, staying close to each other as they called out to her and Timur hurriedly tripped over himself to look from up high, pushing himself up taller on his back legs and panicking; How did he lose one of Joel's kids? She'd been there five minutes ago, it was nothing super important and how had he not heard her leave?

' _Think Timur, think! Where would you go if you were an eight year old with ADHD?_ ' Chewing his bottom lip, the brunet froze. The bridge! If anything Frog would have to be down there, that's where all the interesting things would be. As much as he hated his current situation, he did have to admit the extra limbs were good for skittering around quickly. Bursting out of the underbrush, Timur looked around in a frantic search. The sound of giggling reached his ears and he turned his head, sighing in relief as he caught sight of Frog, the blonde girl poking at something under the bridge with a stick.

"Frog!" The sound of her name had her looking up, Timur hurriedly making his way towards her on the dry grass and plucking her up by the scruff of her shirt. Setting her down made her laugh and he breathed a sigh of relief as he checked her over.

Sticking a tongue out at him, she turned her green eyed gaze back to under the bridge, "I was playing with the slime!"

"To be quite honest, Frog," he sighed exasperatedly, "I don't care what you were doing. You had me worried! What would have happened if you slipped and fell into the water? Do you know how to swim?" She shook her head slowly, blinking owlishly at him. Then she pointed back under the bridge, looking at him now.

"I heard muttering in the woods and then I followed it to the bridge and then I followed it under the bridge and to the black slime." Following her pointed finger, Timur furrowed his brow as he leaned back to the side a bit. He couldn't really see under the shadowy bottom of the bridge's arch, and he made a slight face before sighing, gently taking her arms in his hands and looking at her.

"Next time, let's not follow the muttering; It may have been trying to hurt you. Okay?" He got a sheepish nod and huffed out of his nose, reaching down and picking her up with a grunt to set her on his hip. Casting a cautious look back towards the arch, Timur turned away as he adjusted Frog so they were both somewhat comfortable. Briefly it registered in his mind that yeah, okay, he was acting like their mom but fuck it, if they were going to call him mom then maybe he should just act like one. Starting up the small hill and towards the path lead to the other seven girls who all immediately jumped on Frog and him demanding to know if she was hurt and where she had gone too. They were satisfied with Timur's answers and the blonde's apology, letting the infected man take the baskets in his hands and starting back down the walk to the house. It was getting dark when they got there, Joel waiting by the front gate with his hauge arms crossed across his chest and Timur handed off the baskets to the girls, telling them to take them to the porch and go inside to wash up before turning to Joel. The Blinder was watching him, eyebrows drawn together and Timur crossed his own arms. When they all stopped a bit of the ways down, he could see Frog staring at him and he gently waved towards the house, trying not to let his nerves seep through in his motions.

"What happened? It normally doesn't take so long." It was gruff, demanding and Timur looked into the trees across from them. He supposed it was something good for Joel to only have started once they were further away.

"Frog wandered off," That got a raised eyebrow, "She... she said she heard muttering. Out in the woods. When she followed it, she went to the bridge. I didn't really see anything because it was getting dark-"

The sound of an angry exhale met his ears and Timur looked up at the larger infected worriedly, "You didn't watch her? That is irresponsible and completely-"

"I didn't _mean_ to lose her, I turned my back for five minutes-" it was a weak defense met with an upset flair of reflective scales.

"And in those _five minutes_ she could have _drowned_ -"

Panicking, Timur said the first thing that came to mind, "Why do you live near a river if your kids don't know how to swim-"

"You don't get to judge me, _Timur_ , I've got my hands full with everything else here on top of raising them!" The roar from the other was followed by reflective scales flaring out and the pilot stumbled back nervously, mismatched eyes wide as the larger man came towards him, "I don't need you going and costing me eight years of growing pains and time and energy because of one _stupid_ mistake that could have been avoided!" Were it possible to shrink into himself with his back against a pole like it was, Timur was certain he would. Oh would he ever. He hadn't meant his statement to be judging, just something that to him made sense to bring up because why would they not know how to swim, or maybe Joel was just too mad to see that. Timur whimpered, the large man reaching out for him stopping just a breath away from touching him and the sound of an angry exhale and the crunch of dirt under heavy feet rang in the silence, only insects chirping breaking the quiet. A beat. Two beats. The front door slamming and Timur uncurled from his nervous ball, looking worriedly towards the front porch. Maybe he was just hemming and hawing to avoid going into the house where he'd have to be confronted by Joel all over again, but the dark made him paranoid enough that checking the gate almost three times was practically justified. Skittering back to the front porch, Timur sincerely hoped that the dragging sound from behind the gate and stone fence was actually his own broken foot dragging along the ground.

He knew that it wasn't.

* * *

Eating dinner was a silent affair, Joel glowering at him not making it any easier for Timur or for any of his kids. Of course, after Timur made sure they were all ready for bed and in there, he did notice that the larger infected was watching him almost expectantly. It hit him that the other expected him to timidly curl against him to sleep and they stood there, the spider-like infected and the Blinder having their own version of a Mexican stand-off before Timur simply turned away from Joel, heading back down the steps quietly and rechecking all the locks on the doors and the windows before crossing back into the living room. At that point, the Blinder was watching him from the top of the stairs hesitantly, hair still in a ponytail in over his shoulder and dark almond tracking Timur's every move as he wandered about closing drapes and turning off lights. He still felt the tall man's gaze as he dropped himself onto the couch, curling his limbs up around his chest and flopping onto the lumpy, scratchy old thing with a small noise. There was shifting at the top of the stairs as he closed his eyes, stomach still turning from earlier. What would Joel have done if he'd have gotten his hands on him? The pilot didn't want to know, he really _really_ didn't want to know. Would the man actually kill him over something like that?

… Probably honestly, Joel didn't really seem to care so much what happened to him now that he could stand up without help for the most part. Shifting uncomfortably, Timur tried to force down the shiver of cold and loneliness that came from laying down there but he wasn't going back up there. The part of him that was ungodly terrified that the Blinder would still just decide to choke him out won over in the end and Timur curled into himself as he laid there. Sleep was something awful that didn't want to come easy and when it did it was severely uncomfortable.

He wasn't sure how long it had been, probably four or five hours when the feel of something ghosting over one of his arms made him shiver. It was wet, uncomfortably cold and to his rudely awoken mind's palpable confusion, sticky. Very, very sticky. Timur found himself cracking open an eye, staring down at his arm through the slit there and with his enhanced vision in the dark made out a black hand. Not like the colour Edmond had been, the older guard having extremely dark skin, no, this was a solid black, almost like Vantaa black. There was a near see through trail on his arm and Timur barely suppressed a whimper, shaking instead as a chill chased the line of _something_ on his skin and the sight of the front door cracked halfway open made the goosebumps that much worse. Whoever, whatever was touching him was muttering to themselves, something quiet enough that he had to strain to hear it. He barely made out the words "legs" and "so soft" before the hand on his forearm was traveling past his elbow down to the white t-shirt he'd been wearing all day and he panicked as the edge slipped up enough for discernible fingers to be felt on his tanned olive skin.

Jolting upright with a shriek from the touch to his side, Timur flailed briefly before pressing himself up against the arm of the couch. Whoever was touching him yelled back in equally shocked surprise to match Timur's heavy panic. Of course they ended up wrestling with him, Timur's hands touching their chest in an attempt to shove them away and he cried out in surprise as his hands sunk into them a little and his mind went back to the slime he'd encountered earlier upon crashing two weeks ago, the thing that made him panic and fall into the infected corpse and the pilot screamed again, mouth being covered by a dripping hand and a face just as melty as the rest of them leaning in close to examine wild, mismatched eyes as they shushed him. The heavy breathing from his nose and the muffled noises of panic weren't helped by the other settling themselves on his hips and shushing them, the white orbs they considered eyes just as wide as his own must have been.

"Shhh… No need ta be screamin', doll. Just hush up an' lemme lookatcha…" Swallowing thickly, Timur felt shallow pants escaping from his nose, the other on top of him obviously some kind of hellish version of the infection. Semi-congealed black, looking like it was melting but the liquid never dripping off it's face unless it was going back onto the dark, endless black there. He could feel he was being watched by those pure white orbs, the pilot pressing his hands up against their chest and weakly shoving at them. The sound of a deep growl and the heavy thud of footprints that came from the stairs was all the warning the other infected seemed to get before they were rolling off him, just barely avoiding one of Joel's large, snatching hands. Scrambling to sit up and feeling tears drip down across his now dirty face, wheezing weakly and squeakily as he tried to even out panicked breathing. Whatever they were, Joel seemed desperate to get his hands on them and Timur whimpered as he watched Joel snag them, hearing voices at the top of the stairs.

"Mom, Dad-"

"G-go back to your rooms, please-"

"What's going on-"

"Go back to bed!" Joel's booming voice is what did it, Timur watching them scramble from the top of the stairs, back into the dark hall and heard a door close. He could of sworn he saw Olivine peek around once more but he brushed it off. Turning back to Joel, who by the looks of it had finally managed to sink dark claws into the fleshy parts of the other, Timur stumbled over words numbly.

"Joel, _Joel_ , Christ, you don't need to- Joel you're _going to kill them_!"

* * *

It took him thirty minutes to talk Joel down from beating the man into a pulp, two to wash off the slimy trails, forty-five for Timur to go upstairs and check on the kids who had ended up crying, and fifteen minutes to get them all to go to sleep again. He'd managed to grab one of Joel's shirts, the huge thing hanging off of him because of how ridiculously small he was next to the infected. Coming back downstairs showed that Joel had the other bound to a kitchen chair and Timur wasn't sure if he wanted to laugh or cry or both because Joel was pacing worriedly through the doorway between kitchen and living room. Upon seeing the smaller infected, Timur found himself being manhandled around again and checked over for wounds of any sort, the closest thing being a faded mark near his mouth from where the other's fingers had dug in and the Blinder seemed relieved. Going back into the kitchen, Joel stood large, Timur crowded behind him and eyeing the melty looking infected warily. He seemed content to just sit there, watching them both casually like he hadn't just broken into the house and freaked everyone out.

Pulling out a chair and settling into it, Joel barely wasted anytime in dragging Timur down to sit on one large thigh as he glowered at the goopy infected across from him, "So."

"So." It was mockingly tossed back at him, Timur shifting tiredly under the man's blank, white stare. Joel glowered down at him, the semi-solid infected simply staring back blankly as he did so.

Joel heaved a sigh and rubbed at his forehead, "Explain it to me; Why in the hell are you breaking into my house in the middle of the night and terrorizing whoever you got your hands on?"

"Wasn't jus' anyone I could get my hands on. 'S that lil bird on your thigh." Oh. Great. That meant he was being targeted, the infected across from him eyeing him again. Joel turned his head as Timur tensed against, pushing more into his front and glowering out from his perch on the large infected out to the other.

"You wanted to get to... Timur?" it was haltingly said, dark eye narrowed at bored white, "What do you get out of terrorizing him?"

Timur almost threw up in his mouth when the other started talking again after almost ten minutes of deliberation, "I 'unno. Sex maybe, a wife? Ta be fair, I been followin' since before he was infected, not just after his crash." Tensing against Joel was probably the worst thing to do in this situation because that in turn made the Blinder fluff up, body tensed and ready to kick the shit out of the other for that statement. A hand was brought up to his mouth and Timur made an uncomfortable faceas je simply turned so he was mostly facing Joel instead. His accent was vaguely familiar, something that lit a brief flicker of a face then dropped it and that was more unsettling than anything else.

"How long." The rumble in Joel's chest was very much so calming, reverberating through one of his fear-paled cheeks and Timur looked back to pay attention to the answer. Admittedly, he was curious.

" 'Fore that lil bird ya got there met his darlin' Douglas," the room felt freezing, like Timur'd been dunked into icy waters, "Ya can't've jus' up an forgotten me, yeah? After all, weren't'cha the only one who greeted me at th' stupid orientation back then?" Racking his brain drug up some vague face, multiple vague faces. Some of which he had very ittle memory of in general. The voice he was hearing, though muddled and slightly gurgling, fit some lost face of a man with tired eyes behind bottlecap glasses and unkempt hair on his head and a greasy sort of stubble. They'd only spoke for a few minutes, maybe twenty and the man had followed him everywhere. Then he'd gone out on a patrol and never came back. Of course they ended up looking for the lost patrol, but they hadn't found anything but smashed up vehicles and gunshots embedded in trees and dirt. There'd been identification tags left on a branch for them to find and following it had been a dead-end trip. They'd gone back empty handed with Timur flying them back home.

"You were... You were part of the lost patrol." His hands were tensed, digging into Joel's shirt. He had never really liked the guy because he had just seemed, well, odd. Now here they were, staring at each other and yeah, odd didn't begin to cover his behavior.

A smirk of white teeth bared through the dark mass, a loud cheery voice just as expressive as the damned expression he wore, "How you doin', Timur. It's ya boy, Aeron!"

* * *

In the end, Joel had physically removed him from the property. And by that, Timur meant that he took him and the chair to the other side of the bridge and left him there. Tied up. Apparently he told him "If you're so smart, figure a way out of this". It was almost sunrise by the time Joel got back and by then Timur had made himself comfortable on the porch, sitting in one of the chairs next to the baskets of berries he still needed to go through and rubbing at his face tiredly as he sat there in the shockingly comfortable early morning air and completely ignore the fact that he wasn't wearing anything but one of the Blinders frankly ridiculously over sized shirts and no pants because that asshole had gotten them dirty with his stupid slime. Was he grouchy? Yes. Timur was very grouchy but he supposed that it was a plus that when he saw Joel coming back up the walk it made him feel a bit more at ease. They stared at each other for a few minutes and Timur was decently sure he still looked pale as death because the larger infected simply reached down and scooped him up softly before continuing on inside. There was a sigh from next to his head as Timur simply readjusted, frowning into the other's shoulder as the door closed.

"Tonight was interesting."

"Hm."

"I didn't expect to have someone break in."

"Mmhm."

"...Frog told me that you found her earlier," An annoyed huff at his words from Timur made him shift a bit as he headed upstairs, "I'm... sorry, you know. For having yelled at you-"

"Had you have gotten your hands on me what would you have done?" He expected hesitation but the reply he got next made him laugh tiredly.

"I'd have probably shook you like a maraca." It was mostly muttered, sheepish and they had to stop at the top of the stairs for a moment before continuing down the hall to the last room. Opening the door, Joel simply left it open as he dropped the other on the bed and unwrapped the heavy wrap around his damaged foot and tugged what Timur was guessing was an emergency medical kit out from under the bed before rebinding his ankle tightly and cleaning up as Timur let himself fall backwards with a sigh and scrubbed at his face with his hands and looked back at Joel as the large infected straightened. His hair was down, auburn locks surprisingly average and Joel was still in his boxers and a t-shirt that were covered in light black smudges in a good few spots. Of course when Timur quietly pointed that out he'd expected the large man to go to the restroom to change; Much to his embarrassment, Joel had decided to strip then and there. Of course he'd ended up hiding his reddening face as the other did that with a loud complaint of "Joel, come on man" that got a chuckle and he ended up peeking at the worst time because next thing he knew he ended up with a full view of what the words 'Proportional Anatomy' meant. The brunet simply groaned and turned onto his side to avoid looking any more than that and finally after what felt like an embarrassed eternity Joel was flopping down next to him.

He just barely managed to get comfortable with his back to the other when the door opened and he could hear small feet coming closer. Looking down the bed showed all eight of Joel's kids standing there and Timur looked back at Joel before readjusting so he was sitting up.

"We don't wanna sleep alone." Was the immediately reply from a very tense shouldered Kit, the girl peeping up before anyone else could speak and Timur couldn't say he blamed them. A large, spiky hand simply patted at the bed in invitation and the next thing he knew there was a small swarm and he was being forced to lay between a small horde and the very big cultivator of such horde and he couldn't help but huff out a laugh as Mute growled at Olivine when she tried to flop on top of him where the silent girl usually did. He might not have fallen asleep until the sun had come up higher but fuck it, at least this was safer than being out in the contaminated areas alone.


End file.
